If you are looking for african witchcraft, you have found it. Although there are many who attempt to persecute or lie about our ways, wicca is a harmonious, peaceful and well balanced way of thinking. A wiccan life is a life which promotes oneness with all that is divine and all that exists. We hope your journey for information and inspiration has found it’s final destination…
african witchcraft
Polygamy In Africa: Was This Part Of African Culture Or A Practice Of Few Men?
The purpose of this article is to stimulate a debate on the practice of polygamy within the African setting. My premise is that polygamy was a practice of a few (mainly rich) men in almost every African community. If this premise is correct or valid, then it is debatable if polygamy was in reality a cultural practice or norm as it is often purported.
The practice of polygamy is/was also allowed and protected within the Jewish, Islam, and other tribal/religious systems.
Polygamy continues to be a practice of choice among few rich African men within African communities. Refraining from practicing polygamy by a rich man does/did not necessarily constitute a violation of African culture and norms.
Several reasons have been advanced as to why few African men opted for polygamous relationships. Reasons ranging from (1) a better alternative to divorce, (2) adding more hands to improve the economy of the household, (3) inheriting dead brother’s wife, (4) spreading the burden of child bearing to a few than to one person, (5) infertility which is usually blamed on the wife, (6) royal succession – to strengthening or forging political alliance. One might want to add that some reasons include sheer hunger for status.
It is common knowledge that preferential treatment within a polygamous marriage breeds in-fighting, jealousy, witchcraft, and animosities. The Bible also records several incidences of in-fighting within polygamous marriages. We are not using these in-fighting and feuds as an argument against polygamy. One wife marriages also have their own marital challenges/feuds/in-fighting.
The thrust of this short article is not the merits or demerits of polygamy. The article is aimed at stimulating a debate on the view that polygamy, especially within African communities, was not a cultural norm, but a practice by few men. If this view is valid, it is, therefore, inaccurate to conclude that the practice of polygamy was or is part of African culture.
About the Author
I live in Somerset West, South Africa. I am a senior lecturer in the Helderberg College Faculty of Theology, Somerset West, South Africa. My area of speciality is Pauline Corpus & Apocalyptic Studies.
African Culture Cameroon: Witchcraft, paganism & Christianity
